Is There Any Profit To Be Made From The Recent Real Estate Slump?

The old saying one persons loss is another persons gain is nowhere truer than in the Real Estate market.

If you have money in a real estate slump you can get pick up great bargains.

If you can afford to wait until the market recovers, you can make an amazing amount of money in the long run letting your investment sit.

If you are thinking about buying a house for yourself, now is a great time to buy, too, because interest rates are low, and will be dropping lower, and many builders are eager to sell.

This is especially true where hurricanes hit in Florida, a place many baby boomers still look to as a place to retire.

In southwest Florida, after the hurricanes of 2004, hordes of people came in and bought damaged properties to rebuild, or renovate.

Builders bought lots and built new houses, speculating that there would be a big market, after the economy revived.

The economy revived, but the market for sales has been slow because the owners of the properties refused to recognize that their properties were priced too high.

Maybe some of these "investors" can afford to wait 5-10 years for the economy to recover to the level that the investors price equals the buyers desire to spend, probably not all of them can.

Many of the highest priced properties are really worth the asking price. The problem is exposure. The southwest, or gulf shore properties, aren't as well known as the rest of Florida.

The truth is the area has been a well-kept secret of the very rich, and those lucky enough to have explored off the beaten path.

All of this means, if I had a quarter million to a half a million dollars to spend on a house I'd look in this area for a place I like. With the hurricane season approaching it's also the perfect time to bargain.

Although hurricanes can be devastating, the real danger is living in a mobile home, or gambling by not having homeowners insurance.

On the other side of the coin, or the continent, in this instance, California's slump is more complicated. The economy alone is the culprit in the slump there. The housing market there isn't really a slump; it's more of a slide. The market reached its peak, and then back slid a little.

Housing prices in California skyrocketed in the early and mid-part of this decade, hitting the highest numbers at the beginning of 2006. Those who didn't sell at the beginning of the slide, predicting there would be a quick turnaround of the housing market, lost some money.

Those who sold their property by years-end of 2006 more than likely still realized a profit. Of course this depended on when they bought their property and for how much.

The market in California is still a bit stagnant, but like Florida, it's a great location and people want to live there, and it will revive.

So the beginning statement stands. The government is responding by lowering interest rates.

The market will revive.

If you have money to spend and want to invest, or buy your dream home, study what's available on the real estate market, and DO IT!

Learn more about this author, Linda Bennett.
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